I was really struck by one section of the "12 Common Mistakes" which placed heavy emphasis on good communication skills, a segment that is probably more important for quality professionals with great applicability in every aspect of the profession. My addition to the excerpt below is that communication is not only vital with top management, but with EVERY level of the organization, else strategies may not be implemented as designed.Good day v9991,
Let me refer you to the Harvard Business Review's article The Six Mistakes Executives Make in Risk Management. The Harvard Aimes Group lists 12 Common Mistakes Risk Managers Make. Note: When looking at that web page you may have to narrow your screen to view the text properly.
I hope this helps!
I have seen more quality folk terminated because they "didn't fit in" than because they couldn't cite chapter and verse of an ISO Standard.Failure to Communicate Effectively with Upper Management
Inability to be on the same wavelength as upper management is a career-killer and a common mistake for risk managers. Risk managers are seldom fired or "outsourced" because they are not up to speed on the latest commercial general liability (CGL) form or the most state-of-the-art policy wording. More commonly, risk management career longevity is abbreviated by communication-not competence-problems.
This happens generally when "fitting in" requires recognition and admiration of the emperor's new clothes.I have seen more quality folk terminated because they "didn't fit in" than because they couldn't cite chapter and verse of an ISO Standard.
It is important for folks in the quality profession and those dealing with change management in particular to be aware the communication is not ONLY to (and from) management, but to and from the folks "on the ground" who deal with the issues on a day to day and minute to minute basis.It is the case with communicating with just about everyone, I think: we are apt to listen more closely to that which we believe is in our interest.
And in the QA field we've often been told to "Talk the language of money" to upper management. So it is. But it's hard to convince them that risk management has a payoff because someone else had a disaster so we want to avoid one. There are entire volumes about it in print: see the book Fact and fable in psychology. The adolescent tendency to believe nothing bad will happen to us is a sign of an immature brain, but many adults continue the mind set because of many factors, notably our pressing need to keep costs down and maintain a running quarterly profit.
Then there's just the test of time. Many years ago I was in my first civilian QA job and felt frustrated with top management who didn't want to "bureaucratize the place." I asked an esteemed colleague how he dealt with that. He said if they did not listen, he let them fail and then said, "Would you like to try a different way now?" I never managed to adopt that method.